Method and apparatus for transmitting uplink control information

ABSTRACT

In the field of wireless communication, a method and an apparatus for transmitting Uplink Control Information (UCI) are provided. The method includes: determining a codeword corresponding to the UCI among multiple codewords according to a preset rule when the UCI is transmitted on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) with the multiple codewords ( 101 ); and transmitting the UCI by mapping the UCI onto the corresponding codeword ( 102 ). The apparatus includes a determining unit and a transmitting unit. The method and the apparatus provide a solution to transmitting UCI on a PUSCH with multiple codewords. This solution can be implemented easily based on LTE R8, without involving too much additional work of standardization.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/488,695, filed on Jun. 5, 2012, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2010/079508, filed on Dec. 7, 2010,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200910254310.5,filed on Dec. 7, 2009. All of the aforementioned applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication,and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting UplinkControl Information (UCI), and more particularly, to a method and anapparatus for transmitting UCI on a Physical Uplink Share Channel(PUSCH) with multiple codewords.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) R8 wireless communication system, inorder to support technologies such as dynamic scheduling, downlinkMultiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transmission and Hybrid AutomaticRepeat Request (HARQ), a terminal needs to feed back a variety of UCIsto an eNodeB through a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and aPUSCH. Examples of the UCI are channel quality indication, coding matrixindication, and acknowledgement information intended for HARQ.Specifically, the UCI fed back through a PUSCH includes: Channel QualityInformation (CQI), Rank Indication (RI), and Hybrid Automatic Repeatrequest-Acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK). When the MIMO transmission mode isclosed-loop space division multiplexing and Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO),the CQI includes channel quality indication information and codingmatrix indication information; in other transmission modes, the CQI ischannel quality indication information.

In the LTE R8, the PUSCH supports only one codeword in one TransmissionTime Interval (TTI). The codeword corresponds to bits of one transportblock after channel coding. When the UCI and the data need to be sentthrough the PUSCH within the same TTI, the detailed procedure is asfollows:

(1) The terminal calculates the number of modulation symbols for variousUCIs;

(2) The terminal calculates the number of bits of various UCIs afterchannel coding;

(3) The terminal performs operations related to channel coding for thedata, CQI, RI, and HARQ-ACK, then multiplexes the coded data and codedCQI, and finally performs channel interleaving for the multiplexed bits,coded bits of the RI, and coded bits of the HARQ-ACK;

(4) The terminal performs a series of operations such as scrambling,modulation, Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), and resource mapping forthe bits that have undergone channel interleaving, and then sends thebits to the eNodeB;

(5) The eNodeB processes the received bits, and performs channeldeinterleaving and demultiplexing to separate the CQI, RI and HARQ-ACKfrom the data; and

(6) The eNodeB performs channel decoding, judges whether the transmittedUCI is correct. If the transmitted UCI is correct, the eNodeB obtainsthe original information bits of the transmitted CQI, RI and HARQ-ACK.

The foregoing method is a method for transmitting UCI in which the PUSCHsupports one codeword in one TTI. With evolution of technologies, aPUSCH may support multiple codewords in one TTI. For example, when aspatial multiplexing technology with time domain layer shifting orwithout time domain layer shifting is adopted, a PUSCH supports up totwo codewords in one TTI. Therefore, it is necessary to work out amethod for transmitting UCI in which a PUSCH supports multiple codewordsin a TTI. How to transmit UCI on a PUSCH with multiple codewords is anew problem, for which there is no related prior art currently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the problem of transmitting UCI on a PUSCH withmultiple codewords, embodiments of the present invention provide amethod and an apparatus for transmitting UCI. The technical solutionsare as follows:

A method for transmitting UCI, which includes:

determining a codeword corresponding to the UCI among multiple codewordsaccording to a preset rule when the UCI is transmitted on a PUSCH withmultiple codewords; and

transmitting the UCI by mapping the UCI onto the corresponding codeword.

An apparatus for transmitting UCI, which includes:

a determining unit, configured to determine a codeword corresponding tothe UCI among multiple codewords according to a preset rule when the UCIis transmitted on a PUSCH with multiple codewords; and

a transmitting unit, configured to transmit the UCI by mapping the UCIonto the corresponding codeword.

The technical solutions according to the embodiments of the presentinvention solve the problem about how to transmit UCI on a PUSCH withmultiple codewords. The solutions can be implemented easily based on LTER8, without involving too much additional work of standardization.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting UCI according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting UCI according toembodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of how an eNodeB processes received UCI after theUCI is divided into multiple parts and each part is mapped to acorresponding codeword for transmission according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of how a terminal performs operations related tochannel coding for data and UCI according to embodiment 1 of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of locations of data and UCI in a TTIafter channel interleaving according to embodiment 1 of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting UCI according toembodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are a schematic flowchart of transmitting one UCI on twocodewords according to embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting UCI according toembodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting UCI according toembodiment 4 of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a structure diagram of an apparatus for transmitting UCIaccording to embodiment 5 of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is another structure diagram of an apparatus for transmittingUCI according to embodiment 5 of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and merits of the presentinvention clearer, the following describes the embodiments of thepresent invention in more detail with reference to accompanyingdrawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a method for transmitting UCI in an embodiment ofthe present invention includes the following steps:

101. Determine a codeword corresponding to the UCI among multiplecodewords according to a preset rule when the UCI is transmitted on aPUSCH with multiple codewords.

102. Transmit the UCI by mapping the UCI onto the correspondingcodeword.

The foregoing method is a solution to transmitting UCI on multiplecodewords, supports LTE R8, LTE R9 and higher versions of LTE, and is anew technology in this field. When the method is applied to LTE R8,because only one codeword exists, the codeword is directly determined asthe codeword corresponding to the UCI, and transmit the UCI by mappingthe UCI onto this codeword.

In this embodiment, the UCI may be any type of UCI, including but notlimited to: CQI, RI, HARQ-ACK, or channel information and so on. Thetype of the UCI is not limited herein. There may be one or more UCIs tobe transmitted in this embodiment. One UCI refers to control informationcorresponding to one coded block of control information. When there aremultiple UCIs to be transmitted, any two of the UCIs may be with thesame type or different types. For example, there are three UCIs to betransmitted, all of the three UCIs may be CQIs; or, one is CQI, one isRI, and the rest is HARQ-ACK.

In this embodiment, a variety of preset rules are presented, whichinclude but are not limited to: transmitting one UCI by mapping the oneUCI onto one codeword; transmitting one UCI by dividing the one UCI intomultiple parts and mapping the multiple parts to multiple codewordsrespectively; and, transmitting multiple UCIs by mapping the multipleUCIs onto one codeword. The preset rules are not limited herein. Themethod is expounded below with reference to four embodiments. The presetrules in any of the four embodiments below are applicable.

Embodiment 1

As shown in FIG. 2, this embodiment provides a method for transmittingUCI, in which one UCI is divided into multiple parts and then themultiple parts are transmitted along with multiple codewordsrespectively. The method includes the following steps:

201. When UCI is transmitted on a PUSCH with multiple codewords, for oneUCI to be transmitted, divide the one UCI into multiple parts, where thenumber of the multiple parts is equal to the number of the multiplecodewords and each part corresponds to one of the codewords.

For example, if there are two codewords, e.g., codeword 1 and codeword2, one UCI is divided into two parts, e.g., UCI1 and UCI2. UCI1corresponds to codeword 1, and UCI2 corresponds to codeword 2.

The UCI may be divided into multiple parts in many methods. The methodsof dividing are not limited herein. Any two of the multiple parts may beof the same length or different lengths.

202. Transmitting the UCI by mapping each part of the UCI onto thecorresponding codeword respectively.

In this embodiment, each part of the UCI is processed in the same way.As shown in FIG. 3, the process of step 202 may be implemented in thefollowing detailed steps:

301. Use each part of the UCI as a current part, and calculate thenumber (V) of modulation symbols for the current part of the UCI.

Specifically, if the current part of the UCI is HARQ-ACK or RI, applyformula (1) for calculation; if the current part of the UCI is CQI,apply formula (2) for calculation.

$\begin{matrix}{Q^{\prime} = {\min\left( {\left\lceil \frac{O \cdot M_{sc}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot N_{symb}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot \beta_{offset}^{PUSCH}}{\sum\limits_{r = 0}^{C - 1}K_{r}} \right\rceil,{4 \cdot M_{sc}^{PUSCH}}} \right)}} & (1) \\{Q^{\prime} = {\min\left( {\left\lceil \frac{\left( {O + L} \right) \cdot M_{sc}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot N_{symb}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot \beta_{offset}^{PUSCH}}{\sum\limits_{r = 0}^{C - 1}K_{r}} \right\rceil,{{M_{sc}^{PUSCH} \cdot N_{symb}^{PUSCH}} - \frac{Q_{RI}}{Q_{m}}}} \right)}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

In the formulae above, O is the number of original information bits ofUCI in the current part; M_(sc) ^(PUSCH-initial) is the transmissionbandwidth for initial PUSCH transmission for the same transport block;N_(symb) ^(PUSCH-initial) is the number of SC-FDMAs for initial PUSCHtransmission for the same transport block; β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) is anModulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) offset of UCI in the current partover data; M_(sc) ^(PUSCH) is transmission bandwidth of the PUSCH; K_(r)is a sum of the number of information bits of code block r and thenumber of Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) bits; C is the number of codeblocks; N_(symb) ^(PUSCH1) is the number of SC-FDMAs for the sametransport block; Q^(RI) is the number of modulation symbols for the RI;L is the number of CRC bits, and L is 0 when the CQI is encoded byReed-Muller (RM) coding and is 8 when the CQI is encoded by convolutioncoding; Q_(m) is the modulation order; when the UCI is HARQ-ACK,β_(offset) ^(PUSCH)=β_(off) ^(HARQ-ACK); when the UCI is RI, β_(offset)^(PUSCH)=β_(offset) ^(RI); when the UCI is CQI, β_(offset)^(PUSCH)=β_(offset) ^(CQI).

302. Calculate the number of bits of UCI in the current part afterchannel coding.

Specifically, apply formula (3) to calculate:Q=Q _(m) ·Q′  (3)

In the formula above, Q is the number of bits of UCI in the current partafter channel coding; Q_(m) is the modulation order; and Q′ is thenumber of modulation symbols for UCI in the current part.

303. Perform operations related to channel coding for the transportblock (namely, data to be transmitted), CQI, RI, and HARQ-ACK,multiplexes the coded data and coded CQI, and performs channelinterleaving for the multiplexed bits, coded bits of the RI, and codedbits of the HARQ-ACK.

304. Send the channel interleaved bits to the eNodeB after performing aseries of operations such as scrambling, modulation, DFT, and resourcemapping for the channel interleaved bits to complete transmission of theUCI.

The series of operations refer to the operations intended for wirelesstransmission between the terminal and the eNodeB, and are the same asthe operations performed when the terminal sends only service dataexclusive of the UCI. Therefore, the operations are not detailed hereany further.

Each part of the UCI is sent as soon as this part has undergone theforegoing operations. Therefore, for N codewords, after one UCI isdivided into N parts and the N parts are mapped onto the N codewordsrespectively, mapped signals are obtained, and the terminal sends thesignals to the eNodeB, where N is a natural number and N≥2.

In this embodiment, after the terminal finishes transmitting the UCI,the method may further include the following steps:

305. After receiving the signals from the terminal, the eNodeB performsa series of operations for the signals, to separate the UCI transmittingalong with the data by performing channel deinterleaving anddemultiplexing, and performs channel decoding to judge whether thetransmission of the UCI is correct. If the transmission of the UCI iscorrect, the eNodeB obtains the original information bits of the UCI inthe current part transmitted by the terminal.

306. After obtaining the parts of the UCI transmitted along with eachcodeword (namely, N parts of the UCI), the eNodeB combines the originalinformation bits of the N parts into a complete UCI transmitted by theterminal so as to complete transmission of the UCI.

As shown in FIG. 4, step 303 above may include the following detailedsteps:

401. Append CRC bits to the transport block.

402. Divide the transport block into code blocks, and append CRC bits toeach code block.

403. Perform channel coding for each code block.

404. Perform rate matching for the code blocks that have undergonechannel coding.

405. Concatenate all the code blocks that have undergone rate matching.

Additionally, channel coding is performed for the UCI. The channelcoding for the UCI may include channel coding for the CQI, channelcoding for the RI, or channel coding for the HARQ-ACK. The sequence ofsteps 401 to 405 above is not limited by this step. If the UCI is CQI,steps 401 to 405 may have any sequence of occurrence so long as theyoccur before step 406. If the UCI is RI or HARQ-ACK, steps 401 to 405may have any sequence of occurrence so long as they occur before step407.

406. Multiplex the data after code block concatenation and the channelcoded CQI.

407. Perform channel interleaving for the multiplexed bits, the channelcoded RI, and the channel coded HARQ-ACK.

As a result of the channel interleaving, the time-frequency locations ofthe data and control information in a TTI are roughly illustrated inFIG. 5 after the PUSCH resource mapping. In FIG. 5, each small blockrepresents a time-frequency resource element, the transverse axisrepresents time domain, and the vertical axis represents frequencydomain.

The foregoing method is a solution to transmitting UCI on a PUSCH withmultiple codewords. One UCI is divided into multiple parts and each partis transmitted along with a different codeword after being coded, andthe transmit power of the terminal is made full use of. For example, thetotal transmit power of the terminal is up to 23 dBm, and the transmitpower of each of the two antennas on the terminal is up to 20 dBm.Therefore, through the method in this embodiment, the UCI is dividedinto two parts, and the two parts are transmitted along with the twocodewords. In this way, it is ensured that each antenna has UCI to betransmitted, and in this case, the transmit power for the UCI is up to23 dBm. If the UCI is not divided into two parts but the UCI istransmitted along with one of the codewords, the UCI is transmitted ononly one antenna at the same time. In this case, the transmit power forthe UCI is up to 20 dBm only. Therefore, the method in this embodimentmakes full use of the transmit power of the terminal. Besides, themethod in this embodiment maintains backward-compatibility because itreuses the relevant standards of the LTE R8 and the transmittingprocedure and the receiving procedure in the implementation as far aspossible. The method in this embodiment can be implemented easily basedon LTE R8, without involving too much additional work ofstandardization.

Embodiment 2

In embodiment 1 above, one UCI is divided into multiple parts forcoding, which increases complexity of implementation compared with LTER8. Moreover, the performance of the UCI is restricted by theperformance of the parts of the UCI, and the probability of receivingthe UCI correctly is lower than the probability of receiving any part ofthe UCI correctly. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, this embodimentprovides another method for transmitting UCI. Unlike embodiment 1,embodiment 2 provides a method for dividing one channel coded UCI intomultiple parts, and then transmits the multiple parts along withmultiple codewords respectively. The method includes the followingsteps:

601. When UCI is transmitted on a PUSCH with multiple codewords, for oneUCI to be transmitted, perform channel coding for the one UCI to betransmitted.

Specifically, the process of channel coding for the one UCI is asfollows:

(1) Calculate the number (Q′) of modulation symbols for the UCI on eachcodeword. Specifically, if the UCI is HARQ-ACK or RI, apply formula (4)for calculation; or, if the UCI is CQI, apply formula (5) forcalculation. Formulae (4) and (5) are revised formulae of thecorresponding formulae in LTE R8.

In this embodiment, the number of modulation symbols for the UCI on eachcodeword is the same, namely, is Q′.

$\begin{matrix}{Q^{\prime} = {\min\left( {\left\lceil \frac{O \cdot M_{sc}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot N_{symb}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot \beta_{offset}^{PUSCH}}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{N_{CW} - 1}{\sum\limits_{r = 0}^{C_{i} - 1}K_{r}}} \right\rceil,{4 \cdot M_{sc}^{PUSCH}}} \right)}} & (4) \\{Q^{\prime} = {\min\left( {\left\lceil \frac{\left( {O + L} \right) \cdot M_{sc}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot N_{symb}^{{PUSCH} - {initial}} \cdot \beta_{offset}^{PUSCH}}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{N_{CW} - 1}{\sum\limits_{r = 0}^{C_{i} - 1}K_{r}}} \right\rceil,{{M_{sc}^{PUSCH} \cdot N_{symb}^{PUSCH}} - Q_{RI}^{\prime}}} \right)}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

In the formulae above, O is the number of original information bits ofUCI in the current part; M_(sc) ^(PUSCH-initial) is the transmissionbandwidth for initial PUSCH transmission for the same transport block;N_(symb) ^(PUSCH-initial) is the number of SC-FDMAs for initial PUSCHtransmission for the same transport block; β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) is an MCSoffset of UCI in the current part; M_(sc) ^(PUSCH) is transmissionbandwidth of the PUSCH; K_(r) is a sum of the number of information bitsof code block r of codeword i and the number of CRC bits; C_(i) is thenumber of code blocks of codeword; N_(CW) is the number of codewords;N_(symb) ^(PUSCH1) is the number of SC-FDMAs for the same transportblock; Q_(RI)′ is the number of modulation symbols for the RI on eachcodeword; L is the number of CRC bits, and L is 0 when the CQI isencoded by RM coding and L is 8 when the CQI is encoded by convolutioncoding; Q_(m) is the modulation order; when the UCI is HARQ-ACK,β_(offset) ^(PUSCH)=β_(offset) ^(HARQ-ACK); when the UCI is RI,β_(offset) ^(PUSCH)=β_(offset) ^(RI); when the UCI is CQI, β_(offset)^(PUSCH)=β_(offset) ^(CQI).

In this embodiment, the UCI undergoes channel coding first, and is thendivided into multiple parts. The channel coding performs only once. Asshown in formulae (4) and (5), only one β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) valueinstead of multiple β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) values needs to be applied tocalculation. The β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) value is sent by the eNodeB to theterminal. Therefore, this embodiment saves signaling overhead.

(2) Calculate the number (Q) of bits of the UCI after channel coding.

Specifically, apply formula (6) to calculate:

$\begin{matrix}{Q = {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{N_{CW} - 1}{Q_{m\; i} \cdot Q^{\prime}}}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

In the formula above, Q is the number of bits of the UCI after channelcoding; Q_(mi) is the modulation order of codeword i; and Q′ is thenumber of modulation symbols for the UCI on each codeword.

(3) Perform channel coding for the UCI based on the number (Q) of bitsof the UCI after channel coding.

602. Divide the channel coded UCI into multiple parts, where the numberof the multiple parts is equal to the number of the multiple codewordsand each part corresponds to one of the multiple codewords.

For example, there are N codewords (N is a natural number and N≥2). Thechannel coded UCI is divided into N parts: UCI1, UCI2, . . . , UCIN,which correspond to codeword 1, codeword 2, . . . , codeword Nrespectively.

The channel coded UCI may be divided into multiple parts in manymethods. The methods of dividing are not limited herein. One of themethods is: The number of bits for each part on the correspondingcodeword is calculated with Q_(mi)·Q′, which represents the number ofbits for part i on codeword i.

603. Transmitting each divided part by mapping each part onto thecorresponding codeword respectively.

The detailed process is as follows:

(1) Perform channel coding for the transport blocks on each codewordrespectively. For each codeword, multiplex the coded data and the partcorresponding to the codeword among the parts of the CQI divided afterchannel coding; and perform channel interleaving for the multiplexedbits, the part corresponding to the codeword among the parts of the RIdivided after channel coding, and the part corresponding to the codewordamong the parts of the HARQ-ACK divided after channel coding.

(2) Send the channel interleaved bits to the eNodeB after performing aseries of operations such as scrambling, modulation, DFT, and resourcemapping for the channel interleaved bits. This step is the same as step304, and is not repeated here any further.

(3) After receiving the signals from the terminal, the eNodeB performs aseries of operations for the signals to separate part information of theUCI transmitting along with each codeword by performing channeldeinterleaving and demultiplexing for each codeword, N parts informationof the UCI corresponding to N codewords.

(4) Combine the obtained N parts of the UCI, and perform channeldecoding for the UCI. If the decoding is correct, obtain the originalinformation bits of the UCI transmitted by the terminal so as tocomplete transmission of the UCI.

As shown in FIG. 7, taking two codewords for example, the detailedimplementation process of the foregoing method is described. Thetransport blocks on two codewords undergo channel coding separately. UCIthat undergoes channel coding includes CQI, RI, and HARQ-ACK. After thechannel coding, the UCI is divided into two parts. One part is mappedonto the first codeword to be transmitted, and the other part is mappedonto the second codeword to be transmitted. The eNodeB performs channeldeinterleaving and demultiplexing after receiving the two parts, andcombines the two parts and performs channel decoding to obtain theoriginal information bits of the UCI transmitted by the terminal.

The foregoing method is a solution to transmitting UCI on a PUSCH withmultiple codewords. Like in embodiment 1, because one UCI is dividedinto multiple parts after channel coding and each part is transmittedalong with a different codeword, the transmit power of the terminal ismade full use of, and the reason is the same as that in embodiment 1.Compared with embodiment 1, embodiment 2 reduces the implementationcomplexity, improves the performance of the UCI, and can be implementedeasily based on LTE R8, without involving too much additional work ofstandardization. In this embodiment, the UCI undergoes channel codingfirst, and is then divided into multiple parts. The channel codingperforms only once. As shown in formulae (4) and (5), only oneβ_(offset) ^(PUSCH) value instead of multiple β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) valuesneeds to be applied to calculation. The β_(offset) ^(PUSCH) value isnotified by the eNodeB to the terminal. Therefore, the method accordingto this embodiment saves signaling overhead.

Embodiment 3

In embodiment 2, when the UCI is transmitted on the PUSCH, the sendingprocedure and the receiving procedure employed in LTE R8, need to bemodified, which impedes reuse of the algorithm of LTE R8. Moreover, theformula for calculating the number of modulation symbols for the UCI andthe formula for calculating the number of bits of the UCI after channelcoding in LTE R8 need to be modified, namely, formulae (4) and formula(5) need to be modified. Generally, the RI and the HARQ-ACK have feworiginal information bits, for example, 1 to 2 bits. In this case,additional repeated coding may be required for making the RI or HARQ-ACKtransmissible along with multiple codewords, which leads to unnecessaryresource waste. To solve such problems, this embodiment provides anothermethod for transmitting UCI. Unlike embodiment 1 and embodiment 2,embodiment 3 employs a method of transmitting UCI by mapping one UCIonto one codeword. As shown in FIG. 8, the method in this embodimentincludes the following steps:

801. When UCI is transmitted on a PUSCH with multiple codewords, for oneUCI to be transmitted, determine a designated codeword among multiplecodewords as a codeword corresponding to the one UCI to be transmitted.

The designated codeword may be a codeword designated by the terminal, ora codeword indicated by an Uplink (UL) Grant, or a codeword notified bya signaling from an eNodeB, for example, notified by a Radio ResourceControl (RRC) signaling. Specifically, the UL Grant may indicate thecodeword explicitly or implicitly through a field in the UL Grant, forexample, indicate the codeword explicitly by adding a field in the ULGrant, or indicate the codeword through an MCS field implicitly. Theterminal can determine the corresponding codeword according to the valueof the MCS field. The UL Grant is obtained by the terminal by receivinga downlink control signaling from the eNodeB.

802. Transmit the UCI by mapping the UCI onto the correspondingcodeword.

Specifically, this process may include the following steps:

(1) Based on the MCS of the determined codeword, calculate the number ofmodulation symbols for the UCI. If the UCI is HARQ-ACK or RI, applyformula (1) for calculation; or, if the UCI is CQI, apply formula (2)for calculation.

(2) Calculate the number of bits of the UCI after channel coding. Thecalculation may be performed through formula (3) based on the number ofmodulation symbols for the UCI calculated in the previous step.

(3) Perform operations related to channel coding for the UCI and thedata respectively, and perform multiplexing and channel interleaving.Then perform a series of operations such as scrambling, modulation, DFT,and resource mapping, and then send to the eNodeB. This step is the sameas steps 303 to 304, and is not repeated here any further.

(5) After receiving signals from the terminal, the eNodeB performschannel deinterleaving and demultiplexing to separate the UCItransmitted along with the codeword, and perform channel decoding tojudge whether the transmission of the UCI is correct. If thetransmission of the UCI is correct, obtain the UCI informationtransmitted by the terminal. This step is the same as step 305, and isnot repeated here any further.

The foregoing method is a solution to transmitting UCI on a PUSCH withmultiple codewords. In this embodiment, one UCI is transmitted bymapping to one codeword. Compared with embodiment 2, the method employedin embodiment 3 involves no modification of the algorithm of LTE R8, andmaintains backward-compatibility because it reuses the relevantstandards of the LTE R8 and the transmitting procedure and the receivingprocedure in the implementation as far as possible. The method in thisembodiment can be implemented easily based on LTE R8, without involvingtoo much additional work of standardization. For the UCI with feworiginal information bits, additional repeated coding is avoided, andresources are saved.

Embodiment 4

In this embodiment, UCI to be transmitted from the terminal may be UCIintended for one downlink carrier or UCI intended for multiple downlinkcarriers. The UCI of multiple downlink carriers may be codedindependently or jointly. Joint coding includes joint coding for UCI ofall downlink carriers, or joint coding for UCI of some of all downlinkcarriers. In the case of independent coding, the UCI of each downlinkcarrier undergoes channel coding respectively. In the case of jointcoding, the UCI of multiple downlink carriers undergo channel codingjointly once.

On the basis of embodiment 3, for the scenario of transmitting multipleUCIs from the terminal, in addition to adopting the method according toembodiment 3, this embodiment provides another method for transmittingUCI. As shown in FIG. 9, the method in this embodiment includes thefollowing steps:

901. When multiple UCIs are transmitted on a PUSCH with multiplecodewords, for a plurality of UCIs of the same type in the multiple UCIsto be transmitted, determine a codeword corresponding to each UCI amongmultiple codewords according to a preset rule. The preset rule is asfollows:

If the number of multiple UCIs of the same type M is divisible by thenumber of codewords N, the M UCIs fall into N groups, each groupcorresponds to one codeword in the N codewords, and each group includesM/N UCIs. For example, if M=4 and N=2, M/N=2, and therefore, the 4 UCIsfall into two groups, each group includes 2 UCIs, the first groupcorresponds to the first codeword, and the second group corresponds tothe second codeword.

If M<N and M/N is not an integer, M codewords are selected out of the Ncodewords in a designated sequence. The M UCIs correspond to the Mcodewords, and each UCI corresponds to a codeword. For example, if M=2and N=3, 2 codewords are selected out of 3 codewords in a designatedsequence, 2 UCIs are mapped to the 2 codewords, and the remainingcodeword has no UCI information but transmits data only.

If M is greater than N and the result of dividing M by N is anon-integer number including a quotient X and a remainder Y, the M UCIsfall into N groups, each group corresponds to one of the N codewords,and each group includes X UCIs. Afterward, Y codewords are selected outof the N codewords in a designated sequence, and the remaining Y UCIsafter dividing group are mapped onto the Y codewords. Each UCIcorresponds to a codeword. For example, if M=7 and N=3, the result ofdividing M by N includes a quotient 2 and a remainder 1, the UCIs fallinto 3 groups, each group includes 2 UCIs, and the 3 groups correspondto 3 codewords respectively. In this case, one UCI remains, 1 codewordis selected out of the 3 codewords in a designated sequence, and theremaining UCI is mapped to the selected codeword. If the number ofremaining UCIs is plural such as Z, Z codewords are selected in adesignated sequence, and the remaining Z UCIs are mapped onto the Zcodewords.

M, N, X, Y and Z are all natural numbers, and N is not less than 2.

The designated sequence involved in the foregoing steps may be: asequence from a high MCS level to a low MSC level corresponding to thecodewords or a sequence from a low MCS level to a high MSC levelcorresponding to the codewords.

902. Transmit the UCIs by mapping the UCIs onto the correspondingcodewords respectively.

In the foregoing rules in this embodiment, the terminal may transmit oneof the UCIs by further mapping one of the UCIs onto the designatedcodeword. The designated codeword may be a codeword designated by theterminal, or a codeword indicated explicitly or implicitly by a field inthe UL Grant, or a codeword notified by signaling from the eNodeB. Thatis, the terminal can ensure that one of the UCIs is mapped onto thedesignated codeword on the basis of fulfilling the foregoing rules.

In the method provided in this embodiment, multiple UCIs are transmittedby mapping the multiple UCIs evenly onto corresponding codewords in thedesignated sequence, without being divided into parts, and one or moreUCIs are mapped onto one codeword, which provides a solution totransmitting multiple UCIs on a PUSCH with multiple codewords. Moreover,the solution maintains backward-compatibility because it reuses therelevant standards of the LTE R8 and the transmitting procedure and thereceiving procedure in the implementation as far as possible. The methodin this embodiment can be implemented easily based on LTE R8, withoutinvolving too much additional work of standardization. Multiple UCIs aremapped onto multiple codewords, so as to prevent the following case:multiple UCIs are mapped onto one codeword, resulting in that a largenumber of resources are for the UCIs, resources available to data arescarce, and the amount of data to be borne is very small. Moreover, ifmultiple UCIs are mapped onto one codeword, when the current datatransmission fails, this tiny amount of data needs to be retransmittedon the same resource. If no new UCI needs to be transmitted at the timeof retransmission, the data is to be retransmitted at a very low coderate, which leads to waste of resources. Therefore, the method providedin this embodiment also reduces unnecessary waste of resources caused bydata retransmission effectively.

Embodiment 5

As shown in FIG. 10, an apparatus for transmitting UCI in thisembodiment includes:

a determining unit 1001, configured to determine a codewordcorresponding to the UCI among multiple codewords according to a presetrule when the UCI is transmitted on a PUSCH with multiple codewords; and

a transmitting unit 1002, configured to transmit the UCI by mapping theUCI onto the corresponding codeword.

As shown in FIG. 11, in this embodiment, the determining unit 1001 mayfurther include:

a first determining unit 1001 a, configured to determine, for one UCI tobe transmitted, a designated codeword among multiple codewords as acodeword corresponding to the one UCI when UCI is transmitted on a PUSCHwith multiple codewords, where the designated codeword is a codeworddesignated by a terminal, or a codeword indicated by an UL Grant, or acodeword notified by signaling from an eNodeB. The codeword may beindicated explicitly or implicitly by one field in the UL Grant.

Alternatively, the determining unit 1001 further includes:

a second determining unit 1001 b, configured to divide, for one UCI tobe transmitted, the one UCI into multiple parts when UCI is transmittedon a PUSCH with multiple codewords, where the number of the parts isequal to the number of codewords and each part corresponds to one of thecodewords.

Alternatively, the determining unit 1001 further includes:

a third determining unit 1001 c, configured to perform, for one UCI tobe transmitted, channel coding for the one UCI when UCI is transmittedon a PUSCH with multiple codewords, and divide the channel coded UCIinto multiple parts, where the number of the parts is equal to thenumber of codewords and each part corresponds to one of the codewords.

Alternatively, the determining unit 1001 further includes:

a fourth determining unit 1001 d, configured to: divide, for a pluralityof UCIs of the same type in UCI to be transmitted when the UCI istransmitted on a PUSCH with multiple codewords, M UCIs into N groups ifthe number of the plurality of the UCIs of the same type M is divisibleby the number of codewords N, where each group corresponds to one of Ncodewords, and each group includes M/N UCIs; if M<N and M/N is anon-integer number, select M codewords out of the N codewords in adesignated sequence, and map the M UCIs onto the M codewords, where eachUCI corresponds to a codeword; if M is greater than N and the result ofdividing M by N is a non-integer number including a quotient X and aremainder Y, divide the M UCIs into N groups, where each groupcorresponds one of the N codewords, and each group includes X UCIs; andselect Y codewords out of the N codewords in the designated sequence,and map the remaining Y UCIs after dividing group onto the Y codewords,where each UCI corresponds to a codeword, M and N are natural numbers,and N is not less than 2.

For the second determining unit 1001 b or the third determining unit1001 c, the transmitting unit 1002 is further configured to transmiteach part of the UCI by mapping each part of the UCI onto thecorresponding codeword respectively.

In this embodiment, the designated sequence is: a sequence from a highMCS level to a low MSC level corresponding to the codewords or asequence from a low MCS level to a high MSC level corresponding to thecodewords.

Any apparatus provided in this embodiment of the present invention maybe integrated in a terminal which communicates with an eNodeB over theair.

The method in this embodiment is a solution to transmitting one or moreUCIs on a PUSCH with multiple codewords, and maintainsbackward-compatibility because it reuses the relevant standards of theLTE R8 and the transmitting procedure and the receiving procedure in theimplementation as far as possible. The method in this embodiment can beimplemented easily based on LTE R8, without involving too muchadditional work of standardization. Because multiple UCIs are mappedonto multiple codewords, more resources are available to data, and theresource waste caused by retransmission of data is reduced effectively.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that all or partof the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the presentinvention may be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware.The program may be stored in computer-readable storage media, and thestorage media may be any media capable of storing program codes, such asRead Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), magnetic disk, oroptical disk.

The above descriptions are merely exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the presentinvention. Any modifications, variations or replacement that can beeasily derived by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention shall fall within the protection scopeof the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor, and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to beexecuted by the processor, wherein the program includes instructionsfor: receiving an uplink grant, wherein the uplink grant includes amodulation and coding scheme (MCS) field, and a value of the MCS fieldwhich designates a first transport block (TB), from at least two TBswhich are transmitted in one transmission time interval (TTI), as a TBcarrying channel quality information (CQI); multiplexing the CQI withdata on the first TB; and transmitting the first TB and a second TB inone TTI.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first TB andthe second TB are transmitted through a physical uplink shared channel(PUSCH).
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the CQI isencoded by a reed-muller (RM) coding or a convolution coding.
 4. Theapparatus according to claim 3, wherein in multiplexing the CQI withdata on the first TB, the program includes instructions for:multiplexing the CQI and HARQ-ACK with the data on the first TB.
 5. Amethod for transmitting uplink control information, comprising:receiving, by an apparatus, an uplink grant, wherein the uplink grantincludes a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field, and a value of theMCS field which designates a first transport block (TB), from at leasttwo TBs which are transmitted in one transmission time interval (TTI),as a TB carrying channel quality information (CQI); multiplexing, by theapparatus, the CQI with data on the first TB; and transmitting, by theapparatus, the first TB and a second TB in one TTI.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the first TB and the second TB aretransmitted through a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).
 7. Themethod according to claim 6, wherein the CQI is encoded by a reed-muller(RM) coding or a convolution coding.
 8. The method according to claim 7,wherein the multiplexing, by the apparatus, the CQI with data on thefirst TB is: multiplexing, by the apparatus, the CQI and HARQ-ACK withthe data on the first TB.
 9. An apparatus, comprising: a processor, anda non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program tobe executed by the processor; wherein the program includes instructionsfor: sending an uplink grant, wherein the uplink grant includes amodulation and coding scheme (MCS) field, and a value of the MCS fieldwhich designates a first transport block (TB), from at least two TBswhich are transmitted in one transmission time interval (TTI), as a TBcarrying channel quality information (CQI); and receiving the first TBand a second TB in one TTI, wherein the CQI is multiplexed with data onthe first TB.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the firstTB and the second TB are received through a physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH).
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein theCQI is encoded by a reed-muller (RM) coding or a convolution coding. 12.The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a HARQ-ACK is furthermultiplexed with the CQI and the data on the first TB.
 13. A method forreceiving uplink control information, comprising: sending an uplinkgrant, wherein the uplink grant includes a modulation and coding scheme(MCS) field, and a value of the MCS field which designates a firsttransport block (TB), from at least two TBs which are transmitted in onetransmission time interval (TTI), as a TB carrying channel qualityinformation (CQI); and receiving the first TB and a second TB in oneTTI, wherein the CQI is multiplexed with data on the first TB.
 14. Themethod according to claim 13, wherein the first TB and the second TB arereceived through a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).
 15. Themethod according to claim 14, wherein the CQI is encoded by areed-muller (RM) coding or a convolution coding.
 16. The methodaccording to claim 15, wherein a HARQ-ACK is further multiplexed withthe CQI and the data on the first TB.